The problem with past movies is you only see the good ones. I've spent some time watching the bottom barrel movies from the past and they seem even worse than Today's movies - because while both suffer from horrible plots usually modern movies at least have interesting visuals.
However for certain categories the past was most definitely better. Dramas being the main one. Without a lot of fancy effects the plot was the only thing you had to carry the movie. They also don't beat things over your head and can embrace subtlety in a way modern movies do not.
I also really liked the 70s trend of movies that didn't really have a satisfying ending, you just get to experience the lives of people who don't really improve. 5 easy pieces or The Last Detail fit that category very well.
> I've spent some time watching the bottom barrel movies from the past and they seem even worse than Today's movies
That's because back then we didn't have the internet. No matter how bad a movie was, people would go see it for at least a week before the word got out how bad it was. Looking up movie times was a pain, you had to plan ahead and check the newspaper. If you went on a date Friday/Saturday night, the most likely thing to do was show up the movie theater after dinner and buy a ticket for the movie that started next, since you probably hadn't heard of any of them, or you would buy a ticket that you'd seen the most advertising for.
There were no ratings to check, no reviews to read, unless you happen to read them in the paper that morning.
Nowadays, they know they have to produce at least something minimally good, because word will get out very quickly that something is bad, and it's super easy for people to check rating when they arrive at the theater, or even before they arrive.
So you want to say that Shutter Island is a bad example of drama? It's all just old-farts rants, nothing more.
Everything is evolving.
In old movies actors play often too dumb, just few of them have good examples of how to play a role.
Some "legendary" movies from the past would fail in theaters nowadays without their legendary reputation.
We have more movies right now, more choices, so our demands are higher - otherwise we will not have enough time to watch them all. Also, we have much more choices of how to watch them - age of digital distribution.
Higher demands give higher quality, movies evolve both in visuals and in acting art.
I would suggest an higher standard deviation on quality, meaning that you could reach very top notch standards (your point) meanwhile mass producing total flat works as in music and i presume, all of the arts (my view).
Lol, compare modern music with trash we had in 80s, 90s. Even nowadays' pop trash sounds significantly better than old hits made on synthesizers. Everything evolves, as I said. Maybe you just forgot low-quality movies of previous years, but they did exist, tones of them.
There were no meaning to mass produce and diffuse music in those decades like there are today. I'm not saying 80s and 90s music was perfect (why pick those decades?), i say the more the demand the more the money the more the highs and the lows.
The "quality" you're referring to, i don't know: you're talking about what features of a sound...fidelity, loudness, dynamic?
Anyway, truly the 80s were the years of trash music...but trash as in metal though.
However for certain categories the past was most definitely better. Dramas being the main one. Without a lot of fancy effects the plot was the only thing you had to carry the movie. They also don't beat things over your head and can embrace subtlety in a way modern movies do not.
I also really liked the 70s trend of movies that didn't really have a satisfying ending, you just get to experience the lives of people who don't really improve. 5 easy pieces or The Last Detail fit that category very well.